DTE Energy preps Detroit site for new international bridge

The Gordie Howe International Bridge (GHIB) to connect Detroit and Windsor is among the region’s largest public construction projects, promising steadily increasing construction jobs, economic growth and quality of life improvements in the Michigan and Ontario communities where bridge traffic will flow.

“This project is very complex and requires specific sequencing,” said Karen Whitman, director of Distribution Technology & Renewables at DTE. “We finished most of our planning a year ago, and just about everything we’re doing right now involves removing and relocating the electric and gas infrastructure that served Delray and other parts of Detroit for more than a century. Removing the electric infrastructure is just part of the job – it’s also ensuring no outages occur in neighboring areas while work on the Port of Entry site progresses. More than 25 electric lines cross the site and we’re rerouting them all outside the Port of Entry property.”

Check out this animated video of the site by the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority.

The scope of DTE electric work is huge. The work entails removing 70,000 feet of old cable and installing more than 26 miles of new cable – enough to stretch between Detroit and Pontiac.

DTE’s natural gas work on the Port of Entry site includes removing about nine miles of old gas pipelines, installing nearly five miles of new gas mains and replacing gas line overpasses on I-75 with underground crossings.

Slated to open in 2022, the GHIB will exponentially increase crossing capacity between Detroit and Windsor and is intended to accommodate international commerce flowing between Michigan, Ontario and the world.